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Topic Review (Newest First)

08-31-2013 10:26 AM

outbound

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

We're in a slip for the first time in 35 years. It's very different. Don't know if better or worse just different. Would approach it like buying a house. Important to know who your neighbors are and what the neighborhood is like. Sistership is coming back to our marina next year mostly because of the fellow occupants not because of the marina or its staff. Cruising is a no brainer. Definitely swing to an anchor or mooring. Living day to day ( even with solar and wind ) marina is nice. Used to single a lot on day sails. Haven't built up the courage to do that coming in and out of a slip. Got lousy knees and scared I won't be able to tie back up by myself.

07-08-2013 07:58 PM

zeehag

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

i believe the pic of me paddling a red kayak out to a mooring from the beach we had to land dinghies is still in the google earth maps of coronado bridge, san diego , california..look and tell me if it still is there---was done in 2008 when i was my own next door neighbor , first purchased this one and still have ericson just next mooring over..lol

07-08-2013 06:07 PM

CaptainForce

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

I've lived aboard for over forty years and no anwer can top "Zeehag's" words in post #22!

07-08-2013 06:01 PM

Seaduction

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fharbison

The PO of my new (to me) boat kept it on a mooring can. I can't vouch for how careful he was or wasn't, but both sides forward have tons of dings and scratches around the water line from (I assume) banging into the can. The broker even had a name for it: called it "can rash".

Just my very limited experience. YMMV.
Frank

My familiarity with public mooring setups is limited to mooring "balls" which are not metallic. I never knew that there were "cans" in use elsewhere. Seems to be a bad choice by the mooring field owners.

07-08-2013 04:53 PM

fharbison

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

The PO of my new (to me) boat kept it on a mooring can. I can't vouch for how careful he was or wasn't, but both sides forward have tons of dings and scratches around the water line from (I assume) banging into the can. The broker even had a name for it: called it "can rash".

Just my very limited experience. YMMV.
Frank

07-08-2013 02:58 PM

DrB

Summary Answer

Slip

Convenience

Security - Some can watch boat more easily if your gone

Acquire better docking skills quicker

Social - More neighbors to hang with

Power, Water

Much higher in cost

Potential for more damage toboat during docking and storm

Noisy on W/E nights

On shore facilities (shower/washing/food) if in a marina setting

Mooring

Need dink or taxi to get to boat. If taxi, don't operate 24/7

Quieter (much)

Easier to "dock". True Docking skills less critical

Generally less damage to boat during storm.

Much less expensive

Limited power/water

Hassle to p/u friends unless taxi service.

No one around to "rescue" boat or alert you if something goes amiss while your not there.

Mooring can be more exposed than slips

While I like our mooring from a $ and solitude point of view, there are things about a marina/dock that I miss. The most critical is the learning of good true docking skills in tight quarters in all types of wind/current. This became pretty apparent when we tried to leave a tight marina during spring launch. We just don't need to dock our boat ever except at the beginning and end of the season. As a result, we don't have good skills at it when things "heat" up.

07-08-2013 02:11 PM

caberg

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JulieMor

It is if you're rowing into a strong headwind. More then once I was unable to make any headway rowing out to the boat. This was Monroe Harbor in Chicago and we were the third row in from the breakwater, maybe 1/3 of a mile. One time I rowed for over an hour to get to the boat but never made it. And I was young then.

Yea, that would be a bummer. I'd have to spring for an outboard in that situation. It takes me under 5 minutes to row from the dinghy dock to the boat regardless of conditions. I'm the white sailboat almost dead center.

07-08-2013 09:03 AM

T37Chef

I think there are many advantages and disadvantages to both. Never done the mooring thing for an extended time but would consider it soon as our boat is about finished with major projects, one of the primary reasons for taking a slip vs mooring in our situation. In addition, its much more common to seeing boats in slips vs moorings on the Chesapeake.

Once our boats has solar and/or wind power I will probably move to a mooring. In a storm, I would think a boat would do better then in a slip? (assuming both were relatively protected from fetch).

07-08-2013 08:46 AM

JulieMor

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

Quote:

Originally Posted by caberg

The dinghy in and out is really not a big deal -- just get a good stable one.

It is if you're rowing into a strong headwind. More then once I was unable to make any headway rowing out to the boat. This was Monroe Harbor in Chicago and we were the third row in from the breakwater, maybe 1/3 of a mile. One time I rowed for over an hour to get to the boat but never made it. And I was young then.

Regarding the introvert thing - I think I qualify for being an introvert but being in a slip never bothered me. But one time we backed in and I immediately realized everyone walking the dock had a nice view into the cabin. Last time I did that! Never got those Europeans.

07-08-2013 08:20 AM

zeehag

Re: Slip or Mooring Can?

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeehag
you may enjoy this lifestyle longer if you do the slip first thing....when you decide you enjoy being a pioneer in the 1820s, then progress along....
Don't get this one?

you perhaps dont get it because you are not there yet. i have seen folks wither from boating life just because of life on board on a mooring. is more like pioneer life than you think or seem to think.
moorings are less protected than marinas...more breakaways in storms, difficulty in obtaining groceries and getting them onto boat and other fun things like going to a municipal shower for daily showering, using your tax dollars for your own survival is not usually the positive way most landlubbers see boating or living on board.

most folks without boats will wonder how stuff is done. they will assume that because a boat is in a mooring life is easier and more peaceful...do not delude yourself.
life on board is what YOU make it.
if you start out in a marina you will probably stay on board longer than if you start out in mooring fields without knowledge of how to do what the lifestyle demands of you. good luck. many have failed. i have watched this cycle since i first moved on board my first boat in 1990.
i am not saying YOU will fail--i am saying--do not delude yourself with assumptions about moorings that are untrue.

there is no right nor wrong choice--there is only YOUR choice, whatever that is.

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